By Jennifer Colosimo
There is not a typical day in the life of Tina Boyles Bailey. You’ll find the artsy CBF field personnel on the phone making connections with community partners, perhaps out walking with her neighbor, meeting up with her best friend for coffee or even hosting small group students for a meal at her home. Often, you’ll catch her painting, teaching a dance class or leading a seminar on a variety of creative topics. Every day is different. And she likes it that way.
After nearly 28 years in Bali, Indonesia, doing something different every day feels like a good next step in her ministry. From a new hub in Graz, Austria, faced with a new culture, language and people, this creative, compassionate spirit has learned to give her medium over to God—and she’s excited about how He’s painting her future.
“So much of what I have done in ministry has been very organic,” Bailey said about her call to Austria. “At a certain point, I took the blinders off and realized that being an artist, an ordained woman, painter, dancer and chaplain gave me a unique way of approaching my work. It became apparent how many of my gifts overlap and I needed to be letting God do something with that.”
Bailey’s gifts allow her to uniquely minister to men, women and youth facing or recovering from trauma. She hands them a brush, coaches them on stage, teaches dance and more. Many of those individuals are refugees and immigrants and some are students, but they are all open to the discipline of art and how that can make a positive impact on their mental health.
“I asked, how can I use the knowledge I’ve learned through these disciplines in my ministry here,” Bailey said. “I said, God, this is what I have to offer in this season of my life, wherever I am in the world. These are my dreams. My work in trauma, in crisis, years of doing prison work, working with refugees and displaced people, and victims of abuse have allowed me to develop a certain set of skills; I want to continue to use them, but I also want to pay it forward and inspire the next generation.”
That means focusing on the caregiver, teaching self-care while working alongside the European Baptist Federation (EBF) and The Austrian Baptist Union (ABU) to “train groups from different cultures to care for those in crisis in a trauma-informed, culturally appropriate way.” Then, are we able to care for others most adequately, Bailey believes. As part of the learning networks at International Baptist Theological Study Centre (IBTS), she is part of the Arts as Theology focus group. She is building relationships to grow her pastoral impact in the community and constantly meeting people to learn where else she can use her gifts. From local churches to centers focused on internationals and inside the arts community, she regularly engages people, inspires them through art and shines a light for them in whatever leg of life’s journey they’re on.
In addition, she helps refugees and asylum seekers at the International Baptist Church in Graz, people from Iran, Afghanistan, Syria and more as a support system and community builder. She performs similar duties at their sister church in Vienna. She works with groups at both churches and other networks. She helps lead a baptism and faith formation class. for new believers Since being in Austria, she’s had two art exhibitions and equipped various staff on ways they can incorporate artistic processing with people they work with. In Hungary she is helping people connect with their body through a dance class, leading a prayer team and mentoring young opera singers on how to be on stage and to harness emotion so that they can connect to the music. Through these connections, she is also able to share how God is there with them and can work through them as they heal and process.
“It’s a special thing to offer dignity to people wherever they are on their journey in life. My passion is to really examine how we show up for other people and how we show up for ourselves.”
The fact that she named her ideas before God and they were immediately affirmed in a brand new place still leaves Bailey in awe. Her fluent Indonesian doesn’t do her much good here, but her artistry and gift for connecting with people does, and she remains ready and willing to use whatever else God’s ready for.
“When I say it out loud, I realized I have accomplished a bit,” Bailey said. “It’s been a sort of re-tooling, if you will. I have had to learn how to use my skills here, let people get to know me just as I am getting to know them. I’ve learned that whatever you can offer matters.
“I am a woman who rediscovered her dream but still longs for something that was lost. Through my own life, I knew God was with me no matter what, but I hadn’t had to lean into that knowledge in the way that I have in recent years,” she added. “That knowledge has helped me show up on a different level when I am sitting with someone who is in pain or going through trauma. I can speak with them from deep experience. I can tell them I know they’re not alone.”